Every day we produce loads of data about ourselves when we click web pages, flip channels, drive through automatic tollbooths, shop with credit cards, and make cell phone calls. Marketers and governments alike are eager to mine this trove of information, and a savvy group of mathematicians and computer scientists has stepped up to help them. These "Numerati" have infiltrated every realm of human affairs, profiling us as workers, shoppers, patients, voters, potential terrorists, and even lovers. The implications are vast. But the Numerati can also work on our behalf, diagnosing an illness before we're aware of the symptoms, or even helping us find our soul mate. Surprising and enlightening, this investigation shows how a powerful new endeavor—the mathematical modeling of humanity—will eventually transform every aspect of our lives.

"Steve Baker puts his finger on perhaps the most important cultural trend today: the explosion of data about every aspect of our world and the rise of applied math gurus who know how to use it."—Wired Magazine

"Stephen Baker could have easily gone for spooky in this depiction of the Numerati ... but Baker's deep reportage goes beyond smart shopping carts that entice us to run up our grocery bills and political messages crafted on our preference for Chianti.... The Numerati, Baker writes, try to model 'something almost hopelessly complex: human life and behavior.' They're making progress."—Time